I have no dreams, yet I must sleep

[the_siobhan]

The hard part about driving in Toronto (or any other big city for that matter) is more than anything else the sheer amount of information that you have to keep track of. Once you've checked that the lane you want to turn into is clear, that the lights are in the your favour, that the bicycle coming up from behind you on your inside isn't going to try and pass you while you are turning, that the street crazy who is gesturing to the winds on the sidewalk isn't going to make a sudden lunge into traffic, that the guy in the parked car that you are just about to pass isn't going to try to pull out at the exact moment you switch lanes, that there are no signs saying turning on X day during Y to Z hours is illegal --- you've just creamed the poor slob who suddenly stepped off the streetcar on your other side.

I remember once having a discussion in University with somebody about the value of human intelligence. He felt that it was obviously the most important evolutionary trait any species could develop, specifically because it had brought us to where we are now. I argued that that was only the case if it didn't eventually also lead us to killing ourselves off. (I had this argument at the the height of the cold war, when nuclear extinction was a distinct possibility.)

I argued that dinosaurs probably would have defined size or strength as important, but it did them fuck all good when the major climate changes came that eventually caused their extinction [1]. Just so, being smart is only useful if it doesn't cause you to build and set off things that make the world go boom.

Of course this argument assumes that the measure of evolutionary success is longevity. It could also be argued that intelligence led us to our current position at the top of the food chain[2], so it's a measureable success even if our reign is shorter than that of other species.

Personally, I think our adaptability is way more of an evolutionary advantage than our brains.

Anyway. Work on the house is in the home stretch. I'm been having a dog of a time trying to get everything done that I want to do.


Monday

• cleaned out all the unused crap in the kitchen cupboards
  
  
• put food away
  
  
• tosses stuff that has been hanging around for years and will obviously never get eaten
  
  
• moved some of my boxes/shelving into garage
  
  
• scrubbed basement bathroom
  
  
• painted part of south wall of basement
  
  
• did dishes
  
  
• picked up beer to bribe the_axel into helping with
  
  
• moved boxes downstairs with the help of the_axel
  
  
• sorted some boxes from the office
  
  

Tuesday

• did dishes
  
  
• shovelled walk
  
  
• put up light fixture in upstairs kitchen
  
  
• bagged unwanted kitchen crap for GoodWill
  
  
• bagged unwanted basement crap for GoodWill
  
  
• researched rental rates on strorage lockers in Toronto
  
  
• went to my Pay-The-Rent job
  
  

Wednesday

• sorted out a few items from my bedroom. (not as many as I wanted to.)
  
  
• sorted a few items of my stuff in the basement and separated the "want" pile from the GoodWill pile. (not as many as I wanted to)
  
  
• filled up last remaining box that's been hanging about in the downstairs kitchen and stacked it in the basement with the rest
  
  
• tried to have lunch. got distracted by playing "search and destroy" for whatever was causing the evil pong in the dowstairs fridge. identified two suspects who were summarily executed.
  
  
• tidied up the shelves in the linen closet and bagged up some of the bedclothes I haven't been using
  
  
• picked up printed material from rachel
  
  
• dropped off package with Fed Ex
  
  
• dropped off bags of unwanted stuff at GoodWill
  
  
• picked up boxes for packing up trash from rennovation work
  
  
• shovelled walk
  
  
• suddenly remembered I had forgotten to eat lunch. made dinner
  
  
• did dishes
  
  
• emptied collection container into compost bin and scrubbed it out
  
  
• started typing the notes of the committee meeting from last weekend (didn't finish)
  
  
• went to PTR job
  
  

Thursday

• take trash to dump with the help of len and his trusty truck
  
  
• sweep up the garage
  
  
• sort out garbage and recycling for pickup
  
  
• sort/box a few more things
  
  
• finish typing meeting notes
  
  
• update binetcanada and cangoth if I have time
  
  
• do dishes
  
  
• drop off boots to be repaired
  
  
• go to PTR job
  
  
  
  

Friday

• resume bugging the hotels that have been slow about answering my calls
  
  
• follow up that all packages have arrived safely at their destination
  
  
• finish last of sorting/boxing
  
  
• do dishes
  
  
• go to PTR job
  
  

Saturday

• morning meeting with real estate agent
  
  
• afternoon business general meeting
  
  
• go to PTR job
  
  
• do dishes
  
  
• if the weather forcast has any kind of accuracy... shovel walk
  
  
• try to find some time during the day to send out invitations to that &%$#! party
  
  
• get off work just in time to catch last call with the pack down at the pub
  
  
• fall down
  
  

footnote [1]
It is the current favourite theory that climate change is what did in the big lizards, isn't it? I followed this stuff like a religion when I was about 10 -- and could have named all the periods, how long they lasted and who lived in them. Sod me if I can remember any of it now. Puberty has a lot to answer for.

footnote [2]
"Top" with the exception of viruses, bacteria, prions, and those guys in the Illuminati.

Comments

[2ndaryairplane.livejournal.com]

just a note on the uselessness of intelligence if species exterminate themselves with it's help: it is along the lines of the 'if the tree falls in the forest..' argument. it all comes down to what is the point of existance anyway. if the point is fullfilled, the time it took to do it is irrelevant, if there is no point... then it doesn't matter.


btw, does the compost pile still works in the winter? [i assume it's outside?]

[death4breakfast.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'd say that human adaptability is due to and mostly centered around our intelligence. Humans are relatively small and frail physically. It's our ability to operate together in groups, intelligently and with prior planning, that makes us as deadly as we are. And our ability to think about our environment and manipulate it, is what makes us as adaptable as we are.

worm-food

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

btw, does the compost pile still works in the winter?

Seems to. Or at least there is steam coming out of it when I open the top.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Shit what a lot of work.

I was feeling sorry for myself for how busy I am this month, but at least I can just walk around all my piles of crap thinking about what I might do with them when I have time. I'm not trying to sort them all and take them to Goodwill.

Hang in. Or freak out, whichever sounds more appropriate.